this is cnn breaking news. >> you are in the cnn news room

and i'm jim shuuto in for don lemon and this is breaking news on cnn. a strong warning to russia from president obama that what is going on in ukraine will hurt them in the international way. and it was not in a faceless statement, because president obama called vladimir putin personally from the oval office and you are see a picture right there. and they are talking about crossing the borders they share with ukraine uninvited, and we are seen hundreds of russian forces with rivals and unmarked military vehicles. a according to sources, there may be many, many more. and it is all connected to the violent protest spreading throughout ukraine. they claim that the citizens and the military is asking for protection. and jim acosta, the senior white house correspondent is with us live, and also in kiev, jim lee, i want to go to you first, and we have talked about the

president call from president obama, and not only to vladimir putin, but to the prime minister of canada steven haphen harper, president elon of france, and the message is to get out and stay out of ukraine. >> and yes, the president wrapped up those calls with prime ministers of canada and france. and it looks like he is aligning the allies. talking about all three leaders agreed that ukraine's sovereignty and sbintegrity mus be respected. so it sound likes the president in addition to calling vladimir putin is calling the allies to get behind him, which is, jim, very important, but i want to talk about the tough statement that the white house put out in respect to the president's 90-minute phone call to vladimir putin and what it was like. let me give you a sense of it. let us put it up on screen, because this is the hard position that the president is

taking here. the united states calls on russia to provide deescalation by withdrawing the forces from ukraine and refraining from any interference elsewhere in ukraine. as we are hearing from the senior white house officials, the white house is making the diplomatic threat that the white house is no longer making preparations for the g-8 summit in sochi in june, and that is a clear shot to the russians as to what is happening next. but also, the fact that the united states is condemning russian's military action and considering it a violation of the international law, and jim, the contrast is very striking, and with respect to the kremlin's version of the phone call. it talks about how president putin was draw iing attention t the provocative and the criminal actions of the ultra-nationalist, and so the president of the united states and the president of russia have two different views on this, and it appears that as the conversations were going on, this national security meeting was happening here at the white

house, and we have exclusive pictures of that, of the defense secretary chuck hagel of the director of national intelligence, james clapper, all coming into the white house, and we understand, jim, from talking to the various officials that vice president biden and secretary of state john kerry also joined in on that national security meeting via conference, and some tough talk coming from the white house, and it is clear that they want russia out of crimea, and the question now becomes, does russia respond, and what does the united states do next? jim? >> and the president delivering a tough message and building a coalition that hee ne needs can and france to corroborate. and ian, i know there is frustration among the protesters and even the crimean politicians that they have not gotten the backup or the support they wanted from the west. and do you think that in the phone calls, the stern messages and the talk of costs for russia they are beginning to hear the support they are looking for? >> i think they are starting to

hear positive signs bs, but you also have the ukrainian government here talking tougher about the russians, and that could be a move to push the west to push them into more diplomatic, and push up the diplomatic efforts, because noi first time mentioning the military on the high alert, and definitely an escalation here in kiev, and to tell you that the prime minister here talked to his counter parts in russia, you know, dmitry medvedev who is the russian prime minister assured him that no military action is going to take place so far, and i don't know how much reassurance that is for the government here, but their military is on high alert, and also in the crimea, there is a tense stand off between russian forces and border patrol forces of the ukraine, and the naval chief talked to his counterpart

in russia and they were able to deescalate that, but it goes to show how the tension is rising right now, and the importance for the west to e find a diplomatic solution before there is any outbreak of violence, jim. >> well, thank you very much to ian lee, and a reminder to the view thaers the music that you are hearing in the background the protests that we have been covering in the past few weeks, they are going on and you have the protesters in the squares singing and giving the speeches and holding the russians and their own government to account. than you, ian lee in kiev. a short time ago russia's president vladimir putin got a phone call from the u.n. president ban ki-moon, and the subject is the military movements in the ukraine, and he warned putin to dial back right now on any interference inside of that country, and listen as he describes that call to the russian president. >> it is crucial to restore calm, and proceed to immediate

deescalation of the situation. cool heads must prevail, and patience the orator to the crisis. i direct president putin to be in direct contact with the officials of kiev. >> and richard roth, this came after the security council meeting today, and there was one path offered in the meeting today, and the idea of a more inclusive government, and it was mentioned by the u.n. deputy k secretary-general, a is there talk in the building that you are as a potential way out of this? >> well, talk of that and the u.s. ambassador powers saying that once again pressing the need for international monitors to get on the ground so that there is a true transparent look at what might be happen iing. the secretary-general and his people will continue their

efforts. they have an envoy for ukraine who they are going to try to get back to the region there, but there are still divisions as we saw in the rather fiery at times open televised security council session remarks between ukraine and russia and several ambassador turchynov did not go along with the several ideas that were suggested to the cool heads in this crisis. >> now, elise, our foreign affairs reporter, and you have been in the lead reporting of the options that are being prepared for the president to make the decision, and a range of economic and diplomatic options, and can you describe those to us, and what are we talking about here? >> well, the white house came out, jim, and with the first diplomatic measure if you will, and said it won't take place in the preparatory meetings for the g-8 which is to take place in sochi later in the year, and notably did not say it is not participating in the meeting, and also talking about canceling the trade talks.

there was actually a delegation from moscow that was in town this week in washington wanting to kind of strengthen economic and trade relations with the u.s. and obviously, that is going to be on hold, but beyond that, what can the u.s. do? well, i have been told that some of the president's aides and secretary kerry's aides are putting together a range of options, including punitive economic measures. could they sanction russian entities or the banks that are involve involved in anything like this, and sort of along the lines and obviously not as fulsome as what you have seen with what they did with iran, but it could be something along the lines of that, and there is going to be some meetings tomorrow at nato where not only will the ambassadors of all of the nato members meet, but they are going to to be meeting with the nato ukraine commission, and they will be meeting, and that sends a potent dip llomatic message o isolation to russian president putin, and then over the next coming days, you will see more diplomatic coordination between the u.s. and the european allies

as they try the do both the carrot, and the stick, and they try to show president putin a cost, and that he can have a seat in the table, and formulate a national unity government which will protect the russian interests in ukraine, jim. >> and senator bob cork ser saying on the air a short time ago that the senate, and the congress is preparing economic sanctions as you mentioned against the individuals and the entities in russia including the banks, and that could be painful. and so elise labott at the capitol, and richard roth at the u.n. and we will talk about more to the crisis after this break. dan. the volkswagen passat against all comers. we decided to settle this, a steel-sized cage. but then we realized. consumers already did that. twice. huh. maybe that's why nobody else showed up. how does one get out of a death cage?

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>> this is cnn breaking news. this is our breaking news on cnn at this hour. military action over seas. russian troops, crossing the border, they share with ukraine and it in a region called crimea, and most of the people there ethnic russian and they speak russian and they need economic protection and asking for it. they say that russia is playing with the possibility of war and invasion. a moment ago i spoke with diana magnay, and she is there and she says that she has yet to see the russian troops in ukraine in large numbers. >> reporter: no, we have to be

careful with this, and not sure that the tanks are russian, and there are unidentifiable gunmen on the streets of the capital hear, and they not wearing a military insignia, and they are in the hundreds here. i don't know if the streets around there are filled with troops also, but it ist not as though you have large vehicle movements containing thousands of troops who are patrolling, and crawling the streets off this this crimean region, no. 15,000 troops to me would seem very, very high. and in fact, an exaggeration. what i will say is that these troops, despite the fact that they are obviously keen not to have themselves identified are well organize and clearly with the military backgrounds and highly efficient, and highly armed and i asked one of them where he was from and he said he was from russia, and probably a mistake, because he was a young guy, but that is what he said. >> thank you, diana magmay.

[ speaking foreign language ] >> from russia? >> from where in russia? [ speaking foreign language ] >> it is not important. >> reporter: oh, okay. and when did you come here? [ speaking foreign language ] >> and there you have him just as you saw him saying it cle clearly -- >> and clearly -- >> and i noticed that as we talked about before, he has a magazine in the weapon and you can see the bullets there, and this is a scary presence i would imagine for some people on the streets there, and as you say, there are others who are happy to have the presence and they feel it protects them. >> well, that is what was surprise ing surprising today. and this is a ethnically and culturally mixed region. it is not just the ethnic russians in the majority, and also ukraine nationals and then the ethnic tartars and there was no evidence of anyone other than pro russians on the street. >> all right.

diana magnay in crimea, southern ukraine. and it has taken months to get to this point of tension, and so how did we get here? coming up the back story. load a. [ girl ] seriously? that's a lot of music. seriously. that's insane. and it's 15 bucks a month for the family. seriously? that's a lot of gold rope. seriously, that's a signature look. you don't have a signature look, honey. ♪ that's a signature look. [ male announcer ] only at&t brings you beats music. unlimited downloads for up to 5 accounts and 10 devices all for $14.99 a month. ♪ introducing cardioviva: the first probiotic to help maintain healthy cholesterol levels without a prescription. cardioviva.

this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome back and now each hour brings a new development in the ukraine crisis that is admittedly difficult to keep up. we wanted for sake of the viewers to slow down, pause, dig down on what led to the point, and why russia's ties to the ukraine were so deep, and why the west, and the u.s. is so interest interested in and so connected here. start with the map. ukraine to start with a reminder is in europe, and this is part of europe here, and bordering to the west, and poland and slovakia and hungry and these are all nato allies that the europe and the u.s. have intense obligations to. if they are attacked, they are required to defend these countries, and that is why you have a close reaction and attention paid to this from the

u.s. and the european allies as well. but looking inside of ukraine, because you can see the split inside of the country, itself. and here is the eastern part of the country, and borders russia, and 75% of the population here speaks russian, and the western part of the countkun trcountry europe 5% of the country speaks russian. they lean towards the west. this is the part of the country that politically supported a closer integration with the eu, and the european union. this is a part of the country that did not and in fact, feels nervous. we are hearing frit our own reporter os tb ground that some of them are concerned that they will be attacked and well coming in effect russian protection. and now, we will see how it played out in the most recent election that elected viktor yanukovych before he fled the country. yulia tymoshenko won 75% of the

vote in this part, and victorkt yanukovich won this part, and it was not close. you remember that yulia tymoshenko was in prison after that election, and on what she says is trumped up charges, but this is not just a pull between the two candidates, but a pull between the east and test with and rur europe and russia, and that is what is playing out there and why the russia and u.s. are interested in the events of the tiny peninsula here. there is other news going on around the world we are following including china. a chinese city is in shock after a knife-wielding mob kills more than two dozen people, and now police are searching for the w motive. that story is straight ahead.

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we are keeping an eye on ukraine and also keeping an eye on some of the other big stories, and rosa flores has an eye on those. >> good evening, jim, and we start with an attack at a chinese rail station that killed 28 people and injured more than 100 others. police say that a group of armed people with knives stormed a station in southwest china and say more than 10 attackers were involved. five were shot to death, and the search is on for the others. police are calling it a premeditated terrorist attack. right now, there is no word on a motive. in denver, a massive pileup

on the ice-covered freeway. police say that 104 vehicles slammed into each other today on interstate 25. and one person was killed, and 20 others were jin ured. >> spring is less than three weeks away, but plenty of winter left. in the next few days we will see brutally cold temperatures and heavy snow in parts of the country. meteorologist karen mcginnes has the forecast. in a seemingly winter that won't give up, another round of snow and bitterly cold temperatures all of the way from the midwest even into the northeast. i know you are sick of the winter weather, but here we go. temperature-wise, well, this is only half of the story, and just how cold it is going to be, and then you the snow to have to deal with, so some of the roads, crisscrossing east and west through the midwest extending into the northeast and it is going to be very problematic, and the temperatures from the 40s to 50s and teens to 20s, and

into the northeast and looking at boston, temperatures in the 20s coming up monday and tuesday, and new york city in the 20s and you should be around 45 and how much snow? well, this is what we are expecting. and these are some of the estimates according to the computer models of just how much snow accumulation kansas city and extending into springfield and st. louis and indianapolis, and then new york city 4 to 8 by monday, and very dynamic and we will stay on top of it. and if you are counting, jim, i nknow that i am, spring begins in 19 days. >> i am counting as well. thank you, rosa flores. >> i'm jim shuuto, and stay with cnn and the latest on the cri s crisis. cnn news will continue on cnn international, but right here we will have a cnn special on matthew mcconaughey. it feels like the walls are closing in. ♪

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